ARENA: “In time he is going to give us good passing. He is capable of scoring goals like he demonstrated today, but he needs a little time, he is still making the adjustment in to the league. Today is a difficult day for a player that has played in Europe his whole life, a lot in Scandinavia and all of a sudden he is on a field that is about 80 degrees, it’s sticky, all of that. So that was a little challenging for not only Stefan but all the players. The conditions were difficult today to play in. He had a solid game, obviously a good goal. I think he needs to deal with the speed and the pressure on the ball a little bit better than he did today.”

(On the tactical changes made in the midfield…)

ARENA: “I don’t want to underscore us or over score us. Formations are what they are. It is 11 players out on the field. It just so happens that it accommodates the players that we have out there a little bit better. If we somehow shifted [Marcelo] Sarvas next to Juninho and Stefan [Ishizaki] a little on the right and Baggio [Husidic] a little bit on the right, the world wasn’t going to change. Don’t be understanding that this formation is what we’re changing; it’s the 11 players on the field. If that was the case, then you create formations all day using that as a reason of why you’re winning or not winning. And really in all honesty, I really think it is overplayed and I think it is a question of how those players move together and work for each other.”

(On the Galaxy’s first win of the season…)

ARENA: “I suspected we win a game at some point this year, I think we have such an awkward schedule it’s been difficult. It’s just good to get back playing again and winning a game. You know you have to win a game, that’s the name of the game. That’s why you play. It’s important, it’s our first win. It has to establish some confidence in the team, and it’s good to just be playing again. If we had to do another two weeks of training, I think we’d kill each other, we wouldn’t have a team ready for the next game.”

(On the team’s performance…)

ARENA: “We do have a good team. We have good days. We had a good day today, but I think we were a bit sloppy. I think we could have been better today. Obviously we had a two goal lead at half time and it’s a little easier. I anticipated this game would be a close game. I think we did a good job in the first 15 minutes of the second half and basically killed the game.”

On Landon Donovan’s 90 minute performance…)

ARENA: “He played 30 minutes the other day. He played 90 minutes today, we’d expect a little fatigue but 30 minutes shouldn’t bother him. Landon is pretty fit, and he looked pretty good to me tonight.”

(On Chivas USA’s performance…)

ARENA: “Like I told Wilmer [Cabrera] after the game, I think he is doing a good job with the team. It’s a starting point. Defensively they had a plan there, they’re hard to break down. The players worked hard for 90 minutes, which is a good sign for them, and that means in our league that if you could do that then you can steal some games, you’re going to win some others but you’re going to be around there. So those are the characteristics they have. I think they have a very good goalkeeper in Dan Kennedy, they have a young player up top who has now scored goals in the League, [Erick] Torres, which is encouraging. [Mauro] Rosales could play for any team in the league. [Carlos [Bocanegra] is a good experienced player. They’ve got good players and good things going and they have a good year. I think for sure there are more signs of improvement for Chivas.”

(On the play of forward Robbie Keane…)

ARENA: “Robbie [Keane] doesn’t necessarily like these conditions. This would be like burning in hell in Ireland. He got the first goal; he was part of a bunch of goal scoring opportunities. He could have had another goal. Robbie played well; he is a factor on the field.”

(On the team’s midfielders…)

ARENA: “They’re all good soccer players. There’s enough bite in them where they can win tackles. Marcelo [Sarvas], Juninho, and Baggio [Husidic ] get around the ball pretty well. They can all pass the ball; those are good characteristics for midfield players. If your midfield players can’t pass the ball then you’ve got some problems. So that helps us a little bit.”

CARSON, Calif. -- Robbie Keane tallied his second goal of the season in LA's 3-0 rout of Chivas USA.

On the strike, Keane admitted while the play developed like he expected, the goal was a bit of a welcome surprise.

"I just ran [into the penalty area] and I thought that Dan was going to smash me. I don’t know whether it hit my arm or my side," said Keane. "I knew that it hit off me and I anticipated that the goalkeeper was going to come out. I just jumped up to get my body in the way and lucky enough, it hit off me.”

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy know that Chivas USA is much different than the side that was thumped 5-0 in the last edition of the SuperClasico.

Under new head coach Wilmer Cabrera, Chivas have amassed five points and a 1-1-2 record due to the production of MLS leading goal scorer Erick “El Cubo” Torres—four goals—and playmaker Mauro Rosales who has notched three assists.

Despite many false starts for the Rojiblancos in recent years, Galaxy attacker Landon Donovan believes that Chivas is a new team heading into the 2014 season.

“My impression of Chivas USA is that they are much better. The game Sunday is going to be a difficult game," said Donovan. "They’re much more organized and they have some playmakers and if that continue then it is better for the rivalry.”

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy are hurting at right back, which will likely give Dan Gargan his first start in an LA uniform in Sunday’s SuperClasico.

With A.J. DeLaGarza still nursing a left ankle contusion and James Riley out for the next six months to repair a torn meniscus, Gargan is the likely candidate to slide into the outside back spot ahead of the match against Chivas. Signed just before the start of the 2013 campaign for just this purpose, Gargan admits that he’s ready for the challenge.

“Any player comes into a team with the desire to get on the field. Any opportunity that you get, I certainly want to take advantage of it,” said Gargan. “I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be my first Clasico and it has some history.”

Gargan was a member of Chivas USA in 2008 but never played in a game for that club before returning to the league a year later.

“That was an interesting time for me,” he recalled. “I had personal stuff that kind of outweighed me playing at the time that I had to take care of.

“I was lucky enough to be able to address those and still come back to have an opportunity to play again. It's been quite a path. To know the place I've been and the hard work it's taken is rewarding. Certainly there's a lot of lessons to be learned along the way and you keep those with you.”

“I feel good. I feel ready to play and to be able to support the team,” Penedo, who admitted that he, is still smarting over LA’s CCL defeat to Club Tijuana. “I think that I’m ready to support the team as soon as we play this weekend.”

Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena also gave Penedo the green light stating that the goalkeeper is “close to 100 percent” and will “definitely be available” for the Chivas USA match.

--

Pleased Penedo will be back in the lineup? Think Perk deserves another game?

CARSON, Calif. – Once the Galaxy kick off on Sunday, it will have been 182 days since Landon Donovan tied up Jeff Cunningham’s MLS all-time regular season goal scoring record last October against Chivas USA. Now Donovan will have an opportunity to gain sole possession of the league’s goal scoring record against that same Chivas side.

Although the SuperClasico is always a heated match despite LA’s dominance in the series standings, Donovan downplayed the idea that breaking the league’s goal scoring record against the cross-hall rivals would mean any more to him.

“I don’t think it would mean more because it’s against them, but I just like to score goals," said Donovan after training on Friday. "I feel like I've played pretty well in the first four games and I played okay the other night [against Mexico]. I feel like I’m doing well and moving well, but it’s always nice to hit the goal and I want to hit the goal.”

Donovan admits that he needs to be more selfish toward goal, but was quick to dispel any notion that the hunt for goal 135 is wearing on the attacker.

“I’m in a different phase. I don’t judge how I play based on if I score,” Donovan said. “I've played a lot of bad games where I scored then thought ‘oh, I’m great’ but I’d rather continue playing well and not score. I deserve for myself, I deserve to score. I deserve to score and I’m looking to score.”